hermit crab

I´m staying in Tulum for at least a week at Papaya Playa. Electricity from a generator for only 5 hours a day. Even the coolers at the local store are stuffed with ice. No internet of any kind.


Had a scare last night. Picked up a curious round thing off the sand outside my cabana last night. It bit my thumb, drew blood and ran off. I could see another one moving slowly in the dark, a bit lighter colored than the first and thought it might be a small coiled snake. I can be a quick learner so I didn´t pick this one up. Went to the desk. The night manager and I checked it out together. It was a big hermit crab, non-poisonous but very strong. It clamped down with a steel grip on my key.


The little things that happen to you just when you´re getting ready for bed. In my excitement to determine whether or not I´d been fatally wounded and had poison tearing up my bloodstream, I lost my key. Turned out that the night manager had it all the time. He´s almost as absent-minded as I am. I thought I must have left it in my room and there are no spares at this place. No problem. I broke in so easily without having to kick down the walls. Flick. The latch for the window popped free. I was in. I knew it wasn´t a high-security structure. That´s the charm. It´s right on the beach and the early morning sun pours between the logs. Any security is just an illusion. Two logs were missing when I took it, leaving a gap big enough for a skinny person to just crawl through. I could almost do it but my rib cage was just a tad too wide. They replaced the logs.